Chula Vista  The financier at the center of the South County corruption scandal spent two decades in the municipal finance industry before he was accused of plying public officials with dinners, sporting events and cigars to win approval of bond contracts.

Gary Allen Cabello, 54, pleaded not guilty earlier this month to multiple charges of bribery, improper gift-giving and conspiracy. He and 14 other defendants are to appear Wednesday in Superior Court in Chula Vista as part of a widening pay-to-play probe by District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.

In all, the companies Cabello worked for won contracts to participate in underwriting $348.7 million in bonds issued by the Sweetwater Union High School District and Southwestern Community College District.

His firms and the others that worked to structure and sell the bonds earned up to $3.1 million on the three deals, minus payments they were required to make to financial advisers, lawyers, and others involved in the deals.

Cabello’s attorney, Heather Boxeth, said her client is just as innocent today as he has been during his 20 years of work in a heavily-regulated industry. She noted that Cabello was indicted through testimony by individuals who were given plea deals after an initial round of charges in the investigation and who could not be cross-examined during secret grand jury indictment proceedings.

“He has worked in this industry for 20-plus years and has never been accused of any impropriety around the state,” Boxeth said. “The District Attorney’s Office charged a number of board members and superintendents over a year ago and all of the sudden decided to go to a grand jury with these same people to avoid a preliminary hearing, which does allow the previously obtained criminal defense attorneys to cross examine the witnesses who have already pleaded out.”

Finance in Mexico

A Los Angeles native and University of California Davis graduate, Cabello worked in the real estate industry before he sold bonds. An early ‘90s transaction would be the turning point, according to several reports in the industry publication The Bond Buyer that detail Cabello’s past. That was when Cabello met Mexico City native Luis Ruiz-Dana, who would work with Cabello for many years before his death in 2005.

The team took on corporate finance deals inside Mexico before selling bonds in California, according to The Bond Buyer reports. Cabello and Ruiz-Dana’s ability to serve the Spanish-speaking marketplace and their knowledge of Mexico made them attractive to a succession of finance firms.

In May 2004, Cabello and Ruiz-Dana were hired by Carlsbad-based Kinsell, Newcomb and De Dios. Ruiz-Dana was given the task of setting up Alta Vista Financial, which he and Cabello would both have stakes in.

Boxeth said Sweetwater and Southwestern officials chose the firm, marketed as Hispanic owned and operated, in part for its ties to the community.

“It is my understanding that both Southwestern and Sweetwater wanted a local banking person or banking company such as Alta Vista, because they had more of a local connection,” Boxeth said. “It was more customer service-oriented to have a local person.”